Popularity of the Baby Name Colin

Posts that Mention the Name Colin

Which boy names increased the most in popularity from 2015 to 2016? And which ones decreased the most?

The U.S. SSA likes to answer this question by analyzing ranking differences within the top 1,000. I prefer to answer it by looking at raw number differences, and to take the full list into account. So let’s check out the results using both methods…

Boy Names: Biggest Increases, 2015 to 2016

Rankings

1. Kylo, +2,368 spots — up from 3,269th to 901st
2. Creed, +370 spots — up from 1,352nd to 982nd
3. Benicio, +356 spots — up from 1,331st to 975th
4. Adonis, +307 spots — up from 701st to 394th
5. Fox, +288 spots — up from 1034th to 746th
6. Kye, +281 spots — up from 984th to 703rd
7. Hakeem, +256 spots — up from 1,161st to 905th
8. Shepherd, +242 spots — up from 1,105th to 863rd
9. Wilder, +238 spots — up from 961st to 723rd
10. Zayn, +222 spots — up from 643rd to 421st

Kylo was influenced by the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Creed and Adonis were influenced by the movie Creed (2015).

Hakeem was influenced by the TV show Empire (2015-). So was Bryshere, which debuted last year.

Wilder could have been influenced by either Gene Wilder or by boxer Deontay Wilder, or both. (Or neither.)

Kyrie, which was once given primarily to girls, is now being given primarily for boys thanks to basketball player Kyrie Irving.

Boy Names: Biggest Decreases, 2015 to 2016

Rankings

1. Jonael, -475 spots — down from 921st to 1,396th
2. Aaden, -239 spots — down from 784th to 1,023rd
3. Triston, -230 spots — down from 957th to 1,187th
4. Freddy, -222 spots — down from 993rd to 1,215th
5. Yaakov, -213 spots — down from 992nd to 1,205th
6. Braeden, -203 spots — down from 792nd to 995th
7. Chace, -202 spots — down from 935th to 1,137th
8. Brantlee, -176 spots — down from 777th to 953rd
9. Gannon, -173 spots — down from 533rd to 706th
10. Robin, -171 spots — down from 969th to 1,140th

The name Jonael got a lot of exposure in 2015 thanks to 11-year-old Puerto Rican singer Jonael Santiago, who won the 3rd season of La Voz Kids, which aired from March to June. It didn’t get as much exposure in 2016, which accounts for the drop in usage.

Unlike Rowan, Blake is falling on the boys’ list, but rising on the girls’ list. In fact, the graph (right) makes a gender switch look inevitable. This is not something I would have anticipated a decade ago, before the emergence of Blake Lively.

According to a study published recently in Evolution and Human Behavior, men with black-sounding names “are thought to be larger and more dangerous” than men with white-sounding names.

The study involved more than 1,500 participants, most of whom were white. After reading three different vignettes (“neutral,” “successful,” “threatening”) that featured characters with either stereotypically white-sounding or stereotypically black-sounding names, the participants were asked to describe the characters.

The study…found that men with black-sounding names, such as Jamal, DeShawn, or Darnell, were assumed to be physically larger, more aggressive, and lower in status, compared to men with white-sounding names such as Connor, Wyatt, or Garnett.

The lead author of the study, Colin Holbrook, said via press release: “I’ve never been so disgusted by my own data.” He also called the results disturbing. I agree…though I don’t find them particularly surprising.

On December 27, 1916, a baby girl was born to Mrs. Colin Campbell aboard a Los Angeles Limited passenger train as it was passing through Jericho, Utah, en route to Salt Lake City.

A pullman porter named Samuel Joseph assisted with the birth, and vaudeville actress Sophie Tucker, who happened to be in Salt Lake at the time, “gave up her state room to the child’s mother when informed of the circumstances.”

In thanks to the latter, the baby was named Sophie Tucker Campbell.

Decades later, in 1949, Sophie and Samuel began holding annual reunions. In 1953, they were guests on the NBC radio show Welcome Travelers. Here’s a photo:

“It’s kind of a funny story. I’ve always liked the name Colin. We thought that Colin would be the name. And John is my dad’s name…But as we got further into it, I learned that Vanessa wasn’t a big fan of the name Colin, so we started looking for another ‘C’ name.”

But Minnillo’s OB-GYN was located on Camden Drive, and Nick Lachey says it was there that inspiration struck, and he suggested the street name to Vanessa. It was then, he says, the name stuck:

“We didn’t really know anyone else named Camden. It was such a neat name. We fell in love with it and decided on it five or six months ago.”

The #1 thing this expectant mom would have done differently regarding her pregnancy (via Momaroo):

1) Keep the name choices to myself. […] We got a few positive reactions, with questions, because the names we chose weren’t common but have deep meaning for us. One friend, however, made a face & said the boy name we picked was old fashioned & he would be teased for it & asked why we picked it in the first place. Then she told my husband that the first boy was “supposed to be named after him” & reiterated the teasing part. All of this caused quite a few arguments between me & my husband.

From UK radio DJ Andy Walker, who asked listeners to call in with “the most unusual names you have heard for someone.”

Charlene Fitzgerald told me her friend named her twins Storm and Lightning. Oh, come on! Was the mother a fan of the weather, or superheroes?

The names kept on coming – Michelle Edwards knows of a dad who is an avid Manchester United fan, so much so that his daughter is called Manchester and his son is named Bobby.

The randomness did not cease as Caroline Loughrey posted on kmfm Drivetime Facebook page that her sister-in-law has named her daughter Galactica.

Clare Turk said that is becoming popular to name a daughter, Lanesra – which is Arsenal backwards. Really? That is the first time I have ever heard of doing that.

Other names that came to my attention were Simba for a son, Seksy for a daughter – good luck with that during the school register – and a boy called Trucker. You can guess what his father did for a living.

Names are, as scientists know, critical to one’s success in life and how people perceive us. It’s unlikely you’d name your newborn son “Methuselah,” since the name connotes an old man with a long beard and exhausted medical benefits. Nor would it help to nickname your son “Meth.”

Denise and her husband are expecting their third child (gender unknown) in a matter of weeks and would appreciate a few name suggestions. Their first two children are named Danielle Frances and Shane Hugh. (Frances and Hugh are both family names.) Denise says:

I am Irish and like Irish names but my husband prefers French names.

So it seems like they’ve been able to compromise quite well so far, as Shane’s name is Irish and Danielle’s is French. :)

As of right now, their top picks are “Anna Joyce for a girl (Joyce being my husband’s mother’s name) and Liam James or Declan James for a boy.”

Personally, I think Anna, Liam and Declan are all great choices. I slightly prefer Liam to Declan, but only because it might be nice for each child to have a distinct first initial. Here are a few other ideas for boy names…

Brendan
Brian
Colin
Kevin

Kyle
Martin
Neil
Nolan

Owen
Raymond
Victor
Xavier

And some girl names…

Bridget
Caroline
Claire
Isabelle

Maura
Maureen
Molly
Natalie

Nicole
Norah
Pauline
Renee

I think the middles James and Joyce work with all of the above, except maybe Bridget (I think “Bridget Joyce” is a bit choppy).